Lenovo Ideapad Miix 520 review: A superb Windows tablet with subpar battery life - allisonwitheat

The Lenovo Ideapad Miix 520 aspires to compete with Microsoft's Show u Pro, and it checks nearly entirely of the boxes: excellent performance; a bright, sopranino-resolution show; and a comfortable typing experience. Only in battery spirit does it fall well short. Nevertheless, the Miix 520 is a great alternative to the pricier Surface lineup.

As Windows tablets mix toward the 12.2-inch panel sized used by the Miix 520, comparing them is all about tradeoffs. The Miix 520, which is currently on tap in exclusively extraordinary constellation (currently about $990 on Amazon), upgrades the regular tablet display from 1080p to a 1920×1200 venire. But that high resolution affects battery life sentence, As you'll see later in our tests. The other major features are detailed below.,

Lenovo Miix 520: Basic specs and features

• Display: 12.2-inch (1920×1200) IPS
• Processor: Intel 1.6GHz Congress of Racial Equality i5-8250U  (Kaby Lake-R)
• Graphics: Intel 620 (nonsegregated)
• Memory: 8GB DDR4 (2,133MHz)
• Storage: 256GB SSD
• Ports: 1 USB 3.0 (Type C), 1 USB 3.0 (Type A), microSD, headphone jack
• Wireless: 802.11ac (2×2), Bluetooth 4.1
• Cameras: Look (5MP, stationary-concentre) Rear (8MP, autofocus)
• Battery: 39Wh
• Operating arrangement: Windows 10 Home
• Dimensions and weight: 11.8 in. x 8.1 in. x 0.4 in., 0.6 in. with keyboard; 1.9 lb (tablet), 2.72 lb (with keyboard), 3.06 pound (tablet, keyboard plus charger)
• Price as reviewed: $999

Dissimilar Microsoft, Lenovo bundles the detachable keyboard as well as a style, titled the Active Pen 2.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The Lenovo Miix 520 offers salient appreciate. although it's all packaged in a instead unassuming outdoor.

Lenovo Miix 520: Build quality and display

Save for Lenovo's silvery "watchband" hinge, the Miix 520's platinum silver exterior is discreet, as is the case with most tablets. Unlike the crisp, art movement lines of the Microsoft Surface Pro (2017), however, there's much more of a sentience of "busy:" a fan wicket runs along the top of the tablet, ports bundle to the left-hand-side, and speaker grilles start here and there.

The watchband hinge isn't honorable for show. It supports the weight of the tablet (which, at 2.72 pounds with the keyboard, is a little heavier than the challenger), and it reclines to 150 degrees (the same range as the Surface Pro) with few wobble. Lenovo uses the wasted "sheath" kickstand that just about tablet makers (leave out HP) employ, though, which can stab your thighs after prolonged use.

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The Miix 520's watchband hinge not only captures the eye, information technology helps support the tablet as it reclines.

When powering happening the Miix 520, you may notice ane of the conception touches that please habitual Lenovo users: the on-screen bombardment gauge. You also have the option (via the Lenovo Vantage software system, discussed subsequently) of placing a battery icon widget on your taskbar.

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A fan grille runs the length of the Miix 520 tablet. The tablet's fan turns on frequently, but the low hiss ne'er becomes annoying.

Spell the Miix 520's 12.2-inch, 1920 x 1200 IPS board taxes stamp battery life-time and lacks the visual pop of, say, the OLED screen old by the Samsung Coltsfoot Book, the experience is worth it. On that point's a perceptible improvement in exhibit timber compared to 1920×1080. The luminosity maxes out at just 298 nits, which is somewhat less than the competition, but we consider something between 250 and 270 nits to be comfortable for mean use.

Unfortunately, one aspect where the Miix 520 skimps too much is Windows Hello. The tablet lacks a fingermark reader, and the 5MP front-facing photographic camera is non Windows Hello-capable. The buttocks-facing 8MP photographic camera is fit for Mixed Reality Viewer, a fun new feature in Windows 10 where you can snap a photo with your tablet then drop by one of thousands of 3D objects to spicery it up.

Mark Hachman / IDG

A dedicated volume cradle and power switch adorn the right side of the Lenovo Miix 520.

(If you read our original write up on the Lenovo Miix 520, we detected uncomparable switch. Lenovo had to begin with told us that the rear-facing photographic camera, dubbed WorldView, would pair with a bundled MagicWindow app that would Lashkar-e-Toiba you insert 3D images into regular images. That app has non been bundled, and it's not clear—straight after checking with Lenovo—what happened with WorldView.)

Lenovo Miix 520: Keyboard, ports, and speakers

Lenovo is known for its keyboards, and the Miix 520 by and large does not let down. Instead of the Alcantara fabrics that have become the intent cudu jour, Lenovo opts for a more alkalic pleather, which surrounds the keyboard and industrial plant just fine. All key is large enough to crack a comfortable landing place, and the 1.5mm move on lends itself to long typing.

The row of comparatively small function keys at the top includes dedicated controls for toggling the touchpad, adjusting the brightness and strait, and locking the pill. Users can also on/off switch the keyboard backlight, a nice touch that isn't forever duplicated on rival machines. Unlike the Lenovo X-series tablets, the Miix 520 as wel forgoes both trackpad buttons, A comfortably equally the iconic red TrackPoint pointing stick.

Though the trackpad feels rather small, the glass surface allows smooth scrolling, and clicks registered all told but the very upper regions of the trackpad.

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The Lenovo Miix 520's trackpad is a chip on the teeny-weeny side.

Nigh the exclusive flaw I found was a small measure of keyboard flex, though you'll only notice it by pressing firmly on a key near the center. Information technology's not enough to touch routine typewriting.

Lenovo more than makes sprouted for that with the seemingly bulletproot magnetic connection betwixt the keyboard and the tablet itself. Like other tablets, the Miix 520 uses a dual flexible joint that folds back, creating 2 points of contact and angling the keyboard slightly. The keyboard grips thusly tightly that I was able to suspend the tablet itself from the keyboard. Put differently, if the pad is perched on your lap and waterfall rearwards over your knees, it probably own't going anyplace.

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You can't do this with most Windows tablets.

Ports are a key concern with any Windows tab, especially as manufacturers manage the passage from legacy USB-A connectors to the new USB-C standard. The Miix 520 wisely splits the difference with two USB 3.0 ports: ace Type A and one Type C. The Type C port doesn't support the fast Thunderclap protocol, nor is it used for charging—there's all the same a votive major power port, leaving some ports procurable for habituate. No dongles are included.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The Lenovo Miix 520, fully reclined, shows the port alignment along the left-hired hand side.

Don't forget about the microSD one-armed bandit tucked away along the back of the tablet, either. (On Lenovo's internet site, the producer erroneously reports that the Miix 520 includes a microSIM slot instead.)

The Miix 520's speakers deliver audio at satisfactory levels—a little softer than, say, a comparable H.P. tablet, but with good midrange and response in the upper registers. Over headphones, the Miix 520 digs deep to turn in the low-end bass reaction its possess internal speakers lack, with some of the most gratifying audio I've knowledgeable from a tablet. A prissy bonus is an actual Dolby Audio frequency app, complete with the graphics equalizer so often missing from Windows machines. (Fairly sadly, though, it lacks whatever presets.)

Mark Hachman / IDG

A microSD batting order time slot is tucked behind the tablet.

The Miix 520 ships with what Lenovo calls the Active Pen 2, a hardline stylus with 4,096 levels of pressure, though no tilt livelihood. Lenovo also helpfully includes Wacom's own Wacom Pen stylus app to manage the Active Pen 2.

Though using the Active Pen 2 is a breeze, assembling it is often more than complicated than with other pens. You'll pauperization to unscrew the top side, then consumption a coin to disassemble that piece into two more pieces, install the smallest pair of coin batteries I've ever seen, reassemble the top, then come by a AAAA battery to top executive the whole contraption. It's a task you'll want to devote some care to. Lenovo appears to use separate batteries for powering the wireless connection to the tablet also as the general stylus functions, only the payoff isn't immediately plain.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Assembling the Activated Compose 2 is far more complicated than you'd expect.

Though the Nimble Penitentiary lacks the eraser-nubbin function of the Surface Pens, two configurable barrel buttons allow you to trigger Cortana, launch OneNote or other apps, or erase.

In that respect's one additional catch: Lenovo's root for the pesky problem of pen management is a plastic pen holster that plugs into the USB-A port. It's a dumb decision that sacrifices productiveness for aesthetics, and you risk snapping off or accidentally detaching the holster inside your backpack or carry-on.

Mark out Hachman / IDG

The Miix 520's Active Pen 2 uses a plastic pen holder that tucks into the USB-A slot.

Lenovo broadly speaking excluded bloatware from the Miix 520. The company bundles a trial of McAfee LiveSafe, the Microsoft Office apps (which require a subscription to Office 365 to activate) andMinecraft, plus the present Candy Trounce Soda water Saga and Butt of Empires: War of Lords.

Somewhat strangely, Lenovo bundled both its own Lenovo Settings app likewise as the new Lenovo Advantage, a vigorously fashioned usefulness to execute everything from supervise updates to explore several offers. When opened, though, Lenovo Settings bu informs the drug user that the Settings app and Vantage sustain merged, and Settings can be uninstalled. Maybe you could go the extra mile next time, Lenovo?

Advantage and the related Lenovo App Explorer also process as front doors of sorts to additional, optional apps like Lenovo Le-Billet, a OneNote-like inking app that allows you jot a remark on the sieve, level when the tablet is locked.

Lenovo Miix 520 performance: Marred by poor battery life

Lenovo's Miix 520 is one of the first crop of tablets to use Intel's 8th-generation Effect chips, and specifically its all but recent Kaby Lake-R parts that promise up to 40 percent more performance compared with antecedent-propagation parts. The profit is borne out in most of our tests below. Battery life matters in a tablet also, though, and in this regard, the Miix 520 misses the German mark.

The tests below show how the Miix 520 compares favourably to the Microsoft Surface Laptop, a full-fledged laptop computer, and other tablets we've preferred, such Eastern Samoa the Samsung Galaxy Book. Lenovo's pad of paper wish cover through any office task with ease, and the 8GB of retentivity Lenovo offers is sufficient for Web browsing with 20 or and so tabs. Rest assured that your tablet will play back Netflix or other video at full frame rates, as well.

PCMark 8's Play 2.0 test measures how the tablet will deal tasks like spreadsheets and word processing. As you throne see, the Miix 520 handles it with facilitate.

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Lenovo's Miix 520 outpaces other tablets using the PCMark Work tests, which perform general office tasks.

Both the Nursing home and Creative aspects of the PCMark test suite are more relevant to the Miix 520's knowing use. Though some tests share some of the same elements, the Home test tends to emphasize light gaming and photograph manipulation, while Creative pushes ahead into video editing. All of these tasks are relevant to home users, and the Miix 520's success here indicates that it's a solid choice.

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In both the PCMark Home and Creative benchmarks, the Lenovo Miix 520 easy outpaces the other tablets in these texts, which measure typical tasks like entanglement browsing, gaming, and see processing.

Maxon's Cinebench bench mark, which renders a complex 2D view, measures how well a device's CPU performs from some a single-core and multicore perspective. The nigh important measurement in this case is the latter: How asymptomatic does the four-core Core i5-8250U perform? Excellently, as it turns out.

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The Cinebench screen, which measures 2D rendering of a compex setting, shows murder the ability of the 8th-gen Core processor inside the Miix 520—which none of its competitors offer.

We also use the Handbrake open-source TV conversion app to transcode a top-tier Hollywood movie into a lower-closure video format suitable for an Android tablet. In this eccentric, Handbrake serves as a stress quiz, putting the CPU under burden for a drawn-out period. An unexpectedly slow result could indicate Mainframe throttling under load. The Miix 520's fast result suggests it didn't take that step out.

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If you want to transcode video, the Miix 520 is the paragon tasty, as our Handbrake bench mark shows.

Our last benchmark examines the tablet's 3D public presentation using 3DMark's Sky Diver benchmark, which provides a solid state base of comparison for other laptops and tablets. No tablet that we know of uses a discrete graphics chip; as an alternative, manufacturers cream and choose among integrated chips. While the Miix 520 can't lucifer the performance of the substantially more expensive Surface Pro (2017), it fares quite healthy thanks to its integrated Intel 620 3D nontextual matter core.

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Here, the Mix 520 falls back to earth somewhat, if only because Microsoft and HP chose to include the relatively high-carrying out Iris Graphics integrated 3D cores.

In the end, we arrive at the Miix 520's soft underbelly: barrage life. We gauge it founded happening a rundown test where we set the display luminosity to 250 nits and connect earbuds to the audio port, with volume set to a midrange charge. With the battery in full effervescent, we unplug it and loop a 4K video until the device gives come out, and record the time.

While Lenovo projects up to 7.5 hours of life from the 38Whr furnish, we got just 5.5 hours in our television summation test. The higher resolution of the display likely played a role. Optimists will distinguish that a 5.5-60 minutes battery life might just see a traveler through a off-road flight. Still, this is an deep time compared to similar Windows tablets, and an domain where Lenovo moldiness improve.

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Clearly, battery life is the Miix 520's Achilles list. You can blame the display for some of that.

Conclusion: one of the best Windows tablets

The name "Lenovo," to me, still implies thin black slabs of productivity. And while it's true that the Miix 520 never aspires to be loud, it's an unobtrusive Windows pad of paper that sparkles with the infrequent flash of luxury.

More practical considerations recommend the Miix 520, though: a rich, erbium, mix of features at an accommodating price. If you're going to be out and astir for respective hours or on a plane to Taiwan, though, look at an alternative that will remain powered risen for the duration of the flight—either the Samsung Galaxy Book, operating theater our other top contender, the pricier HP Spectre x2. And we may soundless undergo future, A-thus far-unreleased tablets suffer it all right.

Battery life aside, I was surprised at how much I likable the Miix 520. It delivers large bang for the buck, and clearly should rank among the uppermost choices for your next Windows tablet.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/407740/lenovo-ideapad-miix-520-review.html

Posted by: allisonwitheat.blogspot.com

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